1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotary engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, reciprocating engines, such as automobile engines, diesel engines for ships, and the like are engines in which the reciprocating motion of a piston caused by an explosion of fuel inside the internal combustion engine is converted to rotating motion and output as power, however, the piston that moves in one direction returns in the opposite direction so energy loss occurs. In order to do away with this loss that occurs due to the reciprocating motion of the piston, a rotary engine has been developed in which a rotor is rotated inside a cylinder, and that rotation directly rotates the driveshaft and is output.
As an example of a practical rotary engine for an automobile is a rotary engine in which a triangular-shaped rotor rotates inside a cylinder having a cylindrical-shaped space and of which the three-apex section comes in contact with the surface of the peripheral wall inside the cylinder. In this rotary engine, due to the friction between that three-apex section and the peripheral wall, the durability and fuel consumption efficiency of the engine is worse than that of a reciprocating engine, and furthermore, because of its complex construction, manufacturing was difficult.
Moreover, another rotary engine is also proposed that rotates a rotor inside a cylinder. In the case of that engine, there is no valve mechanism for pressurizing the inside of the explosion chamber even though there may be an intake value mounted inside the cylinder. Also, there is an exhaust hole located directly from the explosion chamber. Therefore, when the compressed fuel explodes and the rotor rotates, the pressure inside the rotor chamber escapes and pressure is applied to the valve lift wall, so the torque is reduced by half. Furthermore, the explosion chamber adheres to the inner wall of the cylinder and the explosion pressure is completely contained inside, so it is not possible to burn the fuel completely, and it is not possible to efficiently take full advantage of the power from the explosion.
Therefore, the inventors of this invention have proposed a flywheel type of rotary engine having excellent durability, and that together with making it possible to output high horse power even from a small explosion, does away with friction loss by making rotation possible without contact with the inner wall surface of the cylinder.
This flywheel type rotary engine has an engine-output shaft in the center of a cylinder having an inner peripheral surface wall that is a circular cylindrical shape, and whose outer peripheral wall surface has an elliptical column shape of which the two convex apex sections support the shaft of the flywheel type rotor that is near the inner peripheral surface wall of the cylinder, and where two rotor explosion chambers are formed directly behind the apex sections in the direction of rotation of the rotor at two symmetrical locations about the center axis, two cylinder explosion chambers are formed in the inner peripheral surface wall of the cylinder so that they face the aforementioned explosion chambers, there are spark plugs that face the inside of the cylinder explosion chambers, and there are intake valves, pressure valves and exhaust valves so that opening and closing of the valve mechanisms are timed to match the sparks from the spark plugs, so that when the rotor and cylinder explosion chambers are in a state of facing each other, fuel is exploded causing power to be output in the direction of rotation of the rotor (see patent document 1).
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent 2000-240460 (Pg. 1, FIG. 1)